___ So the first thing we did was rent a fantastically expensive sixth-floor apartment the size of a cupboard. It was so tiny that we had to leave our suitcases in the hallway. The place wasn't entirely authentic, though. Unlike a normal Parisian apartment, the plumbing (水管) worked. ___ Our building even had a tiny lift with a female voice that said, "Ouverture des portes," in perfect French. That is the only French phrase I mastered, and it's a shame I don't have much use for it. Parisians are different from you and me. They never look lazy or untidy. As someone noted in this paper a couple of weeks ago, they eat great food and never gain weight. ___ French strawberries do not taste like cardboard. Instead, they explode in your mouth like little flavor bombs. ___ On our first morning in Paris, I went around the corner to the food market to pick up some groceries. I bought a handful of perfectly ripe small strawberries and a little sweet melon. My husband and I agreed they were the best fruit we had ever eaten. But they cost 18! In France, quality of life is much more important than efficiency. You can tell this by cafes life. French cafes are always crowded. ___ When do these people work? The French take their 35-hour workweek seriously-so seriously that some labor unions recently struck a deal with a group of companies limiting the number of hours that independent contractors can be on call.